Research library / Laboratory study
The Endogenous Hallucinogen and Trace Amine N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) Displays Potent Protective Effects against Hypoxia via Sigma-1 Receptor Activation in Human Primary iPSC-Derived Cortical Neurons and Microglia-Like Immune Cells
Szabo A, Kovacs A, Riba J, et al. Frontiers in Neuroscience 2016;10:423
This laboratory study asked whether DMT, which the body produces in small amounts, can protect brain cells. Researchers grew human cortical neurons from stem cells, along with two kinds of immune cells, and starved them of oxygen. Cells treated with DMT survived severe oxygen deprivation much better than untreated cells. The protection depended on the sigma-1 receptor, a protein involved in cellular stress responses, and came with reduced activity of HIF-1, a key oxygen-sensing factor. The authors suggest the body may make DMT during stress to limit damage from low oxygen, but that idea was not tested. All findings come from cells in a dish. The study does not show that DMT protects the brain in living people, and the old headline that DMT extends neuron lifespan overstates it.
What it found
- DMT markedly increased survival of all three cell types under severe hypoxia.
- The protection worked through the sigma-1 receptor.
- It came with reduced expression and function of the HIF-1 alpha subunit.